In viewing the first anniversary of the 25 January 2011 Revolution that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and set forth many changes that would have simply been unthinkable twelve months ago in Egypt, we should bear in mind that the deep socio-economic and technological structures of civilisations play out over long periods of time, says Dr Harry Hagopian. Here he offers a perspective on the development and prospects of those recent events in Egypt, and responses to them.

It has been a momentous twelve months in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and in relation to developments popularly dubbed the 'Arab Spring' or (perhaps more helpfully) the 'Arab Awakening'. Time, we think, to stop for a moment and take stock.